lost in games

The first Metroid i have actually completed. My previous experience was with Metroid Prime on the Gamecube which i gave up after spending 20hours on mostly trying to find where i was supposed to go and what i was supposed to do. But still loved it.

In MP3 things have changed. There is still a great deal of exploration and backtraking but nowhere near the level of the previous games. It has now turned into more FPS like and with cutscenes, dialogues and showing Samus outside the armorsuit a lot. This game’s primary purpose is to showcase Wii’s controls and it does a great job at that. It’s not perfect by any means (ref: kept losing the lock on enemies and the position of the - and + buttons on the control made accessing the visors and going into hypermode difficult) but it is very close to being perfect. The movement and shooting system is simply fantastic. When i went back to play on the 360 the two thumbsticks just felt fake. Also the grappling device feels nice when you are not in battle. In battle it frustrated me as i failed to do the right movement because i was in a hurry. All in all the controls of the game are superb and it just demonstrates the potential as this is still the first year of the system.

As a game though i was disappointed. Not because MP3 is a bad game. On the contrary it is very good. But it definitely is the inferior one of the trilogy. One of the things i loved on Metroid Prime was that i was completely alone in an almost lifeless planet and it felt that way. It was part of the charm. Exploring a world which was once full of life and you learned how it collapsed along the way. I wanted to learn more about what had happened. This time around it was just your usual Star Wars fight against a dark evil threat with continuous linkup with your fleet. I no longer felt i was in control of what i was doing. I was no bounty hounter. I was just a regular soldier being given orders.

If you own a Wii this is definitely a must play title for the year 2007. It does a great job of promoting the console’s control system. Unfortunately along the way to succeed in that, the game’ s unique identity is lost. A great game that could and should have been a lot more.

I have 3 links for you today. Although most you will probably have left the office by now, you can always check them out at home later or tomorrow.

PS3 outsells Wii in Japan - Gamesindustry
The History of Bioware - Eurogamer
World’s most expensive games - GameSniped

Enjoy your weekend everyone.

US videogame hardware and software sales increased 73 per cent in October according to NPD sales data. Total sales were USD 1.1 billion, compared with USD 643 million a year earlier.

After the Halo 3 and the 360 dominating September’s charts the Nintendo machine is back on track with the Wii and DS claiming the top 2 spots. 360 now in 3rd and it does not seem that the Halo effect is strong enough to carry the console above the Wii. PS3 in last place with the 40GB version only made available in November.

On the software side the Guitar Hero franchise is now one of the great franchises of the gaming world.

NPD Analyst comments:

“Guitar Hero has certainly established itself among the elite video games properties. Very few games sell in excess of 1 million units in their first month in market, but Guitar Hero III did easily with combined sales of 1.4 million units in only 6 days. Since it has broad appeal, it’s also the type of game that should continue to do very well throughout the holidays.”

Hardware

Wii — 519K
Nintendo DS — 458K
Xbox 360 — 366K
PlayStation Portable — 286K
PlayStation 2 — 184K
PlayStation 3 — 121K

Software - October’s top 10:

1. Xbox 360 “Halo 3′’ * (Microsoft) 433.8K
2. Xbox 360 “Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock’’ w/guitar (Activision) 383.2K
3. Wii ”Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock’’ w/guitar (Activision) 286.3K
4. PS2 ”Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock’’ w/guitar (Activision)271.1K
5. DS “Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass’’ (Nintendo) 262.8K
6. “Wii Play’’ w/remote (Nintendo) 239.7K
7. Xbox 360 ”Half Life 2: Episode 2 The Orange Box’’ (Electronic Arts) 238.4K
8. PS2 ”Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock’’ without/guitar (Activision)231.7K
9. PS2 “FIFA Soccer 08′’ (Electronic Arts) 129.7K
10.DS “Brain Age 2: More Training’’ (Nintendo) 116.9K

Bill Harris, who has a blog called Dubious Quality, covers the business of the videogame industry and does so in his own time. He is not professionally involved in the industry as such but his views are thought provoking and sometimes provocative. He not only gets the issues that haunt the industry but can express his views to the rest of us who either don’t get it or just can’t express what we are thinking.

He wrote a piece on “How the Videogame Industry Shot Itself in the Joystick - and Why the Wii Has stopped the Bleeding”. If you are even remotely interested in videogames do yourself a favour and read this. It’s one of the best articles i have read about videogames.

I have been taking the easy way lately with some of my gametime selection. I have been choosing games that are longer than average but are not particularly hard. You see i get easily frustrated. And then i mean frustrated, i mean really pissed off. My neighbours may be under the impression that i am insane with all the yelling and screaming.

That’s why i have taken the easy way out. Long and easy games. Until i read SVGL’s blog on the feeling she gets when she is playing a particularly difficult game.

Here’s an excerpt from her article “Difficult Games: The New Brain Training”

I began to memorize levels, to arrange myself precisely on the same pixel time and time again to coordinate an attack. I accepted that I would fall, repeatedly, into the same gap, be slain again and again by the same boss. I realized that, yesterday, when I’d died so many times (where was my graceful leaping, my effortless succubus-spanking?) I’d presumed something was wrong, either with the game or with me. Now, I’ve got my memory back — this is the way it’s supposed to be.

Games can be challenging even when they are far more intuitive. But this kind of gameplay that engages every fiber of your concentration stirs old reflexes, wakes wrinkles in my brain that have been slumbering for years. Screw Brain Age, man. I’m gonna beat Rondo.

I read this at the time i was having the Metroid Dilemma. A game which i found frustrating and tedius at the time. That’s when i said, “Screw my peace of mind, I want to feel alive! I am going to beat Metroid Prime. ”

And you know what? As i get more into the game the less frustrated i get. In fact I am at 72%, and am loving every bit of it. A sense achievement can go a long way.

Microsoft released a list of known issues with regards to the games (e.g. Halo, Fable etc) which will be available for downloand after the fall dashboad update. I had this experience with SW:KOTR which i played on the 360 emulator and had audio issues and more importantly severe slowdown/frame rate issues which made the game almost unplayable at the later stages of the game.

It is disgraceful for MS to make available to consumers products which are known to have such issues. Especially since at the 14Euros price you can find most xbox original games in mint condition on Ebay which gives you the option to play the game either on the 360 or on the original Xbox which will have no issues.

Finally the fall dashboard update for the 360 has been given a date and it’s in winter! It will be on the 4th of December. Unfortunately the much desired high definition video rental service for Europe will not be included in this one. The service will allow you to download movies or shows on your HDD and there is a timeframe of 14 days to watch it. However, once you begin watching it you have 24 hours until it deletes itself from your HDD. Although i am not too sure whether here in Cyprus we would have been able to use it anyway due to movie rights issues i am disappointed that it’s not coming this holiday season.

One great addition in the update is the fact that there will be a Virtual Console kind of shop which will allow you to purchase original xbox games. Early titles include Halo, Fable , Psychonauts and Fahrenheit and the games will cost 1200 MS points which is almost 14Euros.

Konami on PES PS3 issues - Eurogamer Link

Assassin’s Creed - Gametrailers Review

Game News in a Duel of Print and Online - New York Times

I woke up this morning and saw the blue light coming out of my Wii. There is a new check Mii out channel on Wii which allows you to have a look, rate and copy Miis created all over the world. You can also post you own created Miis. Hehehe, i am going home to copy some Miis!!

Destructoid

Upon the first load, the channel asks you to pick a Mii to serve as your “artisan,” as sort of signature for any Miis you might choose to share. After that you can choose between two main sections. In the Posting Plaza, you can check out a random assortment of Miis from your region or around the world, and also the most popular Miis as picked by other users. Any Mii you like can be given the “I like it” seal of approval, or be copied and imported directly to your Mii channel. You can also post your created Miis in this section for evaluation.

In the Contests area, you can upload Miis based on certain assigned themes — the first contest asks for your best “Mario without his cap.” Once the contest is done in six days, you’ll be able to pick out your favorite entries and view the results.

Have you ever played a Zelda game? If yes, then you have basically played the rest of the series’ iterations as the story is always the same, the theme and setting is always the same and the weapons are almost always the same with a couple of new ones added each time.

Check out this “review” of Zelda Phantom Hourglass on the DS. So funny and true. Brilliant!

“This week on Zero Punctuation, Yahtzee travels to Hyrule to save a princess, etc.”